[Save] Oct. 8 LFEE Seminar - Avoiding Fossil Power Plant Emissions with Renewables

[Karen Gibson]

Environment and Sustainability Brownbag Seminar Series
Sponsored by the MIT Laboratory for Energy and the Environment (LFEE)
http://lfee.mit.edu

Avoiding Fossil Power Plant Emissions with Renewables:  When and 
Where Makes a Big Difference

By Steve Connors, Mike Adams, Kate Martin, Ed Kern
LFEE - Analysis Group for Regional Electricity Alternatives

Wednesday, October 8
12:00-1:30 p.m.
Room E40-496

ABSTRACT
Researchers at the LFEE's Analysis Group for Regional Electricity 
Alternatives recently completed a project for the EPA looking at the 
avoided emissions from solar photovoltaic generation across the 
contiguous 48 states.  To do this they compared hourly PV generation 
from PV systems and compared it to the emissions from fossil units in 
the same power grid, in the same hour.  The project took the 
additional step of identifying, by hour, fossil units in the same 
power pool responding to changes in electricity demand (including 
self generation like PV), so called "Load Shape Following" (LSF) 
units.

To achieve this AGREA took the EPA's "raw" generation and emissions 
data (1998 through 2002) and created a (fossil) unit based database. 
Units were then flagged as "load following," and hourly avoided 
emissions rates by power pool (NERC subregion) calculated. These 
rates were then used to calculate the emissions avoided by PV 
generation.  Regional differences are great.  Annual avoided 
emissions from a kW of installed PV can be larger in some power pools 
than other power pools with considerably more sun.  Also, depending 
on what type of units are "on the margin" (load shape following), 
avoided emissions rates can be higher or lower (by region and/or time 
of day/year) than average fossil emissions.

Preliminary "data mining" of the avoided emissions database has 
highlighted many interesting facets of power system operation, daily 
and seasonal emissions, including possible dynamics among electricity 
demand, renewable energy resources, demand-side management, 
inter-regional power flows, and electricity storage.

Bring your lunch.  Light refreshments will be provided.
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-- 
_________________________________
Karen  L. Gibson
Program Assistant
MIT Laboratory For Energy and the Environment
77 Massachusetts Avenue, E40-469
(1 Amherst St., E40-469 - for DHL and FedEx)
Cambridge, MA 02139  USA
Tel:  1 (617) 258-6368; Fax:  1 (617) 258-6590
http://lfee.mit.edu
http://globalsustainability.org
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